UFC 56: Full Force

Nate Quarry Vs Rich Franklin

Critics questioned whether Nathan Quarry was ready for a title shot.  Rich Franklin responded by calling the fight a lose-lose situation, claiming he would be criticize regardless of how the fight unfolded.

Not tonight.  Not after winning with one of the most brutal knockouts of his career.

Franklin came out cautiously, going through a brief feel-out period with the challenger.  But once the pair engaged, Franklin proved to be the quicker, more powerful striker. 

After rocking the Team Quest fighter with a straight left hand, the champion got much more aggressive.  He quickly pressed the attack, finding the mark again with a second left that sent Quarry to the ground.

Franklin jumped on him and referee Big John McCarthy rushed over, but chose not to stop the fight.  McCarthy’s actions caused Franklin, a consummate sportsman, to pause.

But the pause turned out to be inconsequential because moments later he landed a perfect counter left hand that sent Quarry crashing to the canvas rigid and unconscious for what seemed like a minute.

“I was throwing some sloppy punches and one landed in his eye,” Franklin described.  “I knocked him down earlier in the round and I thought Big John was going to stop the fight but he didn’t.  There was no doubt after the second one.”

No doubt whatsoever.  It was a first-round knockout.  The official time was 2:34.

Although Quarry claimed in the pre-fight hype that Franklin had a weak chin, the champ admitted that the comments drove him to succeed in his inaugural title defence.

“It motivated me,” he said.  “I wanted to come out and put on a good performance because I saw (Gabriel Gonzaga versus Kevin Jordan) and wanted to come out and entertain.”

Joseph Riggs vs. Matt Hughes

Joe “Diesel” Riggs is known as the brutal striker, but it was the champion who landed the first significant blow of the fight.

After a few feel-out punches on the feet, the two fighters exchanged blocked high kicks.  Then, Matt Hughes threw a beautiful right kick to the body.  The shot creating the opening that Hughes needed to score a takedown.

Once on the ground, Hughes took his time to setup an impressive kimura, ending the fight at 3:28 of the first round.

“It’s a far-side kimura,” Hughes explained.  “It’s kind of my bread and butter.  That’s my favourite (submission hold).”

When asked after the fight if Hughes was disappointed that Riggs’ failure to make weight changed the bout from a title defence to just a regular welterweight bout, Hughes seemed unconcerned.

“Sure, I would like to keep my defences running,” he said.  “But at the end of the day, it’s me and another guy in the Octagon.  And I won tonight.”

Is the newly re-signed BJ Penn next?  We’ll find out soon enough.

Georges St Pierre vs. Sean Sherk

He is called the heir apparent for a reason.

Georges St Pierre didn’t defeat Matt Hughes at UFC 50.  But he’s beaten the best of the rest.  And tonight, he put himself right back into title shot by stopping the highly regarded Sean Sherk with strikes in an entertaining welterweight fight.

The Canadian came out using his tremendous reach advantage to pepper the shorter Sherk with one-two combinations, though Sherk seemed surprisingly game on the feet.  Nevertheless, the strikes enabled St. Pierre to keep the fight at a distance and avoid Sherk’s biggest strength – his double-leg takedown.

Sherk tried twice to take the fight to the ground in the first round.  But it was St. Pierre who succeeded in scoring the takedown followed by a series of strikes and elbows in an effective ground-and-pound attack to close out the round.

It was a prelude to the end of the fight.

After more peppering on the feet with left-right combinations, St. Pierre landed a second takedown, except this time he moved to the side mount and pressed with an even more furious assault of fists and elbows. 

As a result, the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.  The official time was 2:53 of round two.

“My plan was to mix it up with him,” an exuberant St. Pierre said.  “I know he’s a very well-rounded fighter.  So I knew if I mixed it up with him he would.” 

Before leaving the Octagon, the affable fighter pleaded with the UFC for another shot at the title.

Jeremy Horn vs Trevor Prangley

The crowd was incensed at the decision.  They booed so loudly that this writer almost couldn’t hear Joe Rogan on the microphone.

After watching Trevor Prangley score takedown after takedown, the judges awarded the fight unanimously to Horn.  All three cards read 29-28 after the fight, and the crowd disagreed loudly.

The bout started as most expected with the two men exchanging on the feet.  Prangley landed the first significant blow of the fight.  It was a right hand on the jaw that forced Horn to cover up and retreat to the fence.  From there, the two men battled in the clinch with Prangley working knees to the body and Horn landing three good knees to the jaw. 

After referee Mario Yamasaki separated the foes, Horn landed a two-punch combination on the button.  The blows caused Prangley to drop for a takedown, but the jiu-jitsu master was ready with a guillotine that almost ended the bout.

Prangley finally worked his way out of the guillotine, but Horn quickly transitioned into an arm bar attempt that seemed close.  Prangley defended, but Horn ended the round pushing for a second arm bar.

All three judges scored the first round 10-9 for Horn.

He started the second round landing a very good counter right.  Prangley faked the takedown and responded with an overhand right of his own.  The fighters then resumed the clinch battle with Horn pressing the action. 

Prangley decided, therefore, to take the fight back to the ground.  Neither man did much so referee Herb Dean called for a stand-up after about a minute.  Prangley instantly took Horn back down.  Again, not much happened, though Prangley seemed to score more.  Dean called for another standup. 

Prangley then took the fight to the ground for the third time in the round.  It was the same routine so the fighters got the same result – a stand-up.  Horn ended the round working knees in the Thai clinch. 

All three judges scored the round for Horn.

The South African started the third round with an excellent outside leg kick.  But Horn countered it with a solid right hand.  The shot convinced Prangley to take him down yet again, but the referee stood them up shortly thereafter for lack of action.

Just like in the second round, Prangley instantly put the fight back where he wanted it – on the ground.   This time, however, he secured the side mount, though Horn quickly transitioned to the guard.  That routine played itself out one more time before time expired.

All three judges scored the final round for Prangley.

“I was really was it expecting the decision to go to him because a lot of judges give it to the guy who is on the top,” Horn admitted.  “I think I scored more on the bottom and more on the feet.”

But he wasn’t finished there.  Obviously frustrated by the crowd’s reaction and the decisions in other fights where the guy maintaining the top position gets controversial wins, Horn responded by saying, “I think that the judges need to educate themselves about MMA.”

Tonight, however, the judges got it right in his mind.

As for his future at 185 pounds, he remained noncommittal saying, “185 is where I feel more natural.  But I’ll fight at 205 pounds or heavyweight.”

Before Horn left the Octagon, he showed a very personal side of himself, calling fitness guru Billy Rush, his strength and conditioning coach, to the center and revealing that his trainer and friend is also fighting a battle. 

“I want to say that Billy Rush helps me to fight at this weight,” he said. “Billy is fighting a battle of his own right now, and I’m going to help him fight it.”

It was a brief glimpse peak into the human side of one of the sport’s toughest warriors.

Kevin Jordan vs Gabriel Gonzaga

The vocal majority of the crown had little patience for the swing bout, a heavyweight battle between Gabriel Gonzaga and Kevin Jordan.

When the fighters spent the majority of the second round merely dancing around each other without throwing any strikes of significance, the crowd jeered in disgust.  In the third, chants of “go home” and worse filled the air while the men continued feinting and throwing one shot at a time.

But Gonzaga changed all that with a single punch.  He changed to jeers to momentary cheers with a leaping right hand right that sent Jordan to the ground.  Two follow-up right hands later, referee Herb Dean waived off the action. 

It was a knockout win for the Brazilian.  The official time was 4:39 of the final round.